St. Blaise

Born: unknown

Died: c.316

Canonized: pre-Congregation

Feast Day: February 3

Patron Saint of: throat ailments, veterinarians, wild animals

Blaise was the Bishop of Sebastea when the persecutions of the Governor of Armenia intensified. The bishop decided to hide for a period of time from the persecutions and certain martyrdom. The place where he hid was said to be a cave that also housed several wild animals that he then cared for in turn for sharing their shelter. Soon enough, his hiding place was discovered. On his way to his trail before the governor, Blaise was approached by a woman that asked for help because a wolf had stolen her pig; Blaise was said to have convinced the wolf to return the pig unharmed. The governor's sentence to Blaise was a slow death - starvation; but the grateful woman whose pig Blaise saved hid food and brought it to him to sustain him through the torture. While under arrest, another woman rushed a son who was choking to death on a fish bone to the future saint; Blaise helped to remove the bone and the boy lived. Learning that Blaise had not perished from the starvation order, the Governor of Armenia had Saint Blaise skinned alive and then beheaded.